OHI Science | Citation policy
In several tables and figures we refer to the goals and subgoals by their abbreviation. Goals and subgoals have a 2 and 3 character abbreviation, respectively.
| Goal | Abbreviation | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Food Provision | FP | The sustainable harvest of seafood from wild-caught fisheries and mariculture |
| Artisanal Fishing Opportunity | AO | The opportunity for small-scale fishers to supply catch for their families, members of their local communities, or sell in local markets |
| Natural Products | NP | The natural resources that are sustainably extracted from living marine resources |
| Carbon Storage | CS | The condition of coastal habitats that store and sequester atmospheric carbon |
| Coastal Livelihoods and Economies | LE | Coastal and ocean-dependent livelihoods (job quantity and quality) and economies (revenues) produced by marine sectors |
| Tourism and Recreation | TR | The value people have for experiencing and enjoying coastal areas through activities such as sailing, recreational fishing, beach-going, and bird watching |
| Sense of Place | SP | The conservation status of iconic species (e.g., salmon, whales) and geographic locations that contribute to cultural identity |
| Clean Waters | CW | The degree to which ocean regions are free of contaminants such as chemicals, eutrophication, harmful algal blooms, disease pathogens, and trash |
| Biodiversity | BD | The conservation status of native marine species and key habitats that serve as a proxy for the suite of species that depend upon them |
| Coastal Protection | CP | The amount of protection provided by marine and coastal habitats serving as natural buffers against incoming waves |
The following goals are comprised of 2 subgoals:biodiversity, food provision, sense of place, livelihoods and economies goals.
| Subgoal | Goal | Abbreviation | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fisheries | Food provision | FIS | The sustainable harvest of seafood from wild-caught fisheries |
| Mariculture | Food provision | MAR | The sustainable harvest of seafood from mariculture practices |
| Habitat | Biodiversity | HAB | The status of key habitats that serve as a proxy for the suite of species that depend upon them |
| Species condition | Biodiversity | SPP | The conservation status of native marine species |
| Iconic species | Sense of place | ICO | The conservation status of iconic species (e.g., salmon, whales) that contribute to cultural identity |
| Lasting special places | Sense of place | LSP | The conservation status of geographic locations that contribute to cultural identity |
| Livelihoods | Coastal livelihoods and economies | LIV | Coastal and ocean-dependent livelihoods (job quantity and quality) produced by marine sectors |
| Economies | Coastal livelihoods and economies | ECO | Coastal and ocean-dependent economies (revenues) produced by marine sectors |
See the Methods document for more information about the models and data used to calculate the global Ocean Health Index.
A CSV formatted dataset from the 2017 assessment is available, right click on data and select “Save as…”. These data include index and goal/subgoal scores (as well as the dimensions used to calculate scores: status, trend, pressure, resilience) for all 6 assessment years (2012-2017). See README for description of data.
Map (top) and histogram (bottom) of index scores for each OHI region.
Average global scores for each goal/subgoal, weighted by each region’s eez area.
The scores for each of the 10 OHI goals displayed for each region (left) and as a histogram (right).
The subgoal scores for the following goals: biodiversity, foob provision, sense of place, and livelihoods and economies. The scores are displayed as a map (left) and histogram (right).
Map (top) and histogram (bottom) of the slope estimates from a linear regression model of the Index scores from 2012 to 2017 for each region.
Map of the slope estimates from a linear regression model of the 10 goal scores from 2012 to 2017 for each region.
Map of the slope estimates from a linear regression model of the 8 subgoal scores from 2012 to 2017 for each region. The subgoal scores for the following goals: biodiversity, food provision, sense of place, and livelihoods and economies. The scores are displayed as a map (left) and histogram (right).
The values are the slope estimate from a linear regression model of the scores from 2012 to 2017 for each region and goal.
Two-letter codes in the diagonal are goal abbreviations (FP = food provision, AO = artisanal fishing opportunity, NP = natural products, CS = carbon storage, CP = coastal protection, LE = coastal livelihoods and economies, TR = tourism and recreation, SP = sense of place, CW = clean water, and BD = biodiversity). Values in the upper right are correlation coefficients for each comparison, with larger font sizes indicating larger coefficients. Plots in lower left are scatterplots of the data with locally-weighted polynomial regression (LOWESS) fits shown in red.
We explored several models to determine whether there was a relationship between OHI scores and the Human Development Index, Cumulative Human Impacts to marine systems, and coastal population (ln population, 10 miles from shoreline).
OHI scores tended to be higher for regions with higher Human Development Index scores and lower for regions with more marine pressures (i.e., cumulative human impacts).
Higher OHI Index scores are associated with higher Human Development Index scores (HDI, the three best performing models included this variable). Lower OHI Index scores are associated with higher cumulative human impacts (CHI) and coastal populations, although the best model only included CHI. This relationship is difficult to resolve given there is a positive relationship between CHI and coastal population.
